Alex Credenza

Description: I have for a long time wanted to have an old style credenza with modernist influences. I though the Alex file cabinets were very elegant and often overlooked so i wanted to utilize them for this hack. The Alex file cabinets were however, too tall to make a sleek and modernist credenza, so in order to make it work i had to chop off the two bottom drawers and shorten the height of that product all together. Then, once that was done for both cabinets the fun began.

The AVSIKT Roll-front cabinet was perfect for my purposes since it had a beautiful roll front with a metallic finish – the roll front is actually really sturdy so even when i decided to flip the AVSIKT Roll-front cabinet so that the roll front was on the top, it can still actually hold pretty heavy objects (including a flat screen TV if necessary).

With the AVSIKT Roll-front cabinet, however, the depth and “height” was smaller than the Alex cabinets, therefore two pieces of plywood (1/2 in thick) had to be placed on each side. This actually helped strengthen the credenza, however, it did require me to veneer the surface once all the pieces were attached. Once the pieces were secure to each other using wooden screws, I veneered the plywood pieces with a nice Maple veneer and gave it a couple of light clear coats to preserve the natural color.

The final touches were getting the legs from Home Depot (or your local hardware store, they cost about $2 a piece) and mount them on the bottom and painting them black. I opted for an arrangement of 3 legs in a triangular fashion on each side – I think that works best since the piece is quite heavy (actually, it is really heavy so lift with partner if possible).

I was happy that my vinyl record player fit the compartment in the AVSIKT Roll-front cabinet and i build a little shelf with the spare drawers parts from the Alex cabinet – underneath it is the speaker and wiring, all hidden from sight. I have many pictures of the process but can’t supply them all at the same time on the site, if needed please let me know and i’ll share them right away!

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Jules IKEAHacker "I am Jules, the engine behind IKEAHackers and the one who keeps this site up and running. My mission is to capture all the wonderful, inspiring, clever hacks and ideas for our much loved IKEA items".

Hey looks great …I was thinking of doing something similar with the roll top cabinets but positioned so they open on side…do you think the roll tops would shake/vibrate if speakers were to sit on the unit?

@kimThanks, thats an original piece of mine! it’s an intaglio etching done with 16 plates – it was done using selective wiping to make it a unique copy. The subject matter is just 4 individuals eating lightbulbs in a room. The room itself is illuminated by a lightbulb, so assuming a linear sequence of events it is safe to presume that the room would be completely dark once they have eaten all of the bulbs. The piece is entitled “The last supper” (i know, original) and it is somewhat of a take on technology these days with the bulb being used to represent that. The piece is about 3x4ft and it was done in 2006 back in my art school days. Thanks for asking!

@Kim – thanks, that’s an original of mine! it’s a 16 plate intaglio etch print that was done with selective wiping – it’s about 3x4ft. It’s 4 individuals in a room eating lightbulbs with varying/different expressions. The room itself is illuminated by a lightbulb on the ceiling, and assuming a linear progression of events from these lightbulb eating creatures it is safe to presume that they would soon be sitting in complete darkness once they’ve eaten all the lightbulbs – it is entitled “The last supper” (i know, original) and was done in 2006, back in my art school days

The turntable is a vestax guber turntable – it’s fairly high end, but i bought it dirt cheap from Musician’s Friend as “For Parts” – when i received it it worked beautifully so i got it for 1/4 of what these usually go for ($400-$500) – it sounds awesome, but you need separate speakers (of course)

thanks everyone! It was a fun hack to tackle. Before i went with the white/maple scheme i was seriously considering the black alex cabinets with a nice walnut veneer for the middle part, but since everything i have is white i went with this scheme (although black/walnut would look awesome too i think).

Chantel, the couches in the back were given to my by a friend of mine, i don’t know much about them except they are very old (probably 1960′s or 70′s) and made out of fiberglass. I don’t think they sell them anymore, unfortunately.

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